gov.noaa.ncdc:C00246
National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Unknown
RADAP II (DSI-9798)
tabular digital data
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
RADAP II is historical digital data set DSI-9798, archived at
the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). In 1971, the National Weather
Service (NWS) began The Digitized Radar Experiment (D/RADEX) to improve the
operational use of radar data through computer processing. The primary
purpose of D/RADEX was to demonstrate the utility of digital reflectivity
data in weather forecasting operations; D-RADEX was programmed for automatic
preparation of low level reflectivity and rainfall accumulation products.
The early stages of D/RADEX involved four sites: Kansas City, MO; Oklahoma
City, OK; Fort Worth, TX; and Monett, MO. Through its lifetime, many advanced
meteorological and hydrological products were developed under D/RADEX
including echo tops, vertically integrated liquid water content, severe
weather probability, storm structure, and rainfall accumulation.
In 1983, positive evaluation of the results of D/RADEX resulted in
transferring the system to quasi-operational status and renaming it Radar
Data Processor, version II (RADAP II). Data were collected from nine
stations: Amarillo, TX, Wichita, KS, Charleston, WV, Garden City, KS, Limon,
CO, Oklahoma city, OK, Pittsburgh, PA, Ruskin, FL and Monett, MO. The period
of record began with April, 1985 data. The major data variables that make up
this file are: station identification and time, elevation angle, range
interval, merge data, elevation, type observation, rotational direction of
original input data, ap indicator, snow indicator, number of data values, and
number, mean, and standard deviation of non-zero DVIP values. This data file
was collected and processed by the Oklahoma climatological survey of Norman,
Oklahoma.
To make a wide range of climatic data available to researchers
and the public.
data set
C00246
RADAR > Radio Detection and Ranging
NWS > National Weather Service
National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
19850101
19920922
Ground Condition
As Needed
-104.0
-80.0
80.0
27.0
ISO 19115 Topic Category
climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
004
elevation
006
imageryBaseMapsEarthCover
010
DIF Discipline Keyword Thesaurus
Earth Sciences > Atmosphere > Meteorology
Earth Sciences > Atmosphere > Climatology
Earth Sciences > Atmosphere > Weather
Earth Sciences > Land > Hydrology
GCMD Sciences Keyword Valids
EARTH SCIENCE > SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > RADAR > RADAR REFLECTIVITY
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > PRECIPITATION AMOUNT
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > LIQUID WATER EQUIVALENT
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA > STORMS
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > RAIN
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > PRECIPITATION > SNOW
EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ALTITUDE > STATION HEIGHT
GCMD Location Valids
UNITED STATES
GCMD Location Valids
TROPOSPHERE
STATOSPHERE
LAND SURFACE
National Weather Service
NWS
Radio Detection and Ranging
RADAR
5
None
None
In theory, the quality of data is better in this file than
the previous models.
Unknown
Completeness information not available.
Unknown
Unknown
The files are written with an unformatted FORTRAN write statement using a
variable spanned (VS) record format and a maximum record length of 32,756
bytes. Each file contains one file of data for one RADAP II site. Each
record has two logical parts representing one scan of data. Part 1 contains
thirty-four 16 bit words of header parameters which describe the station
and data characteristics for the scan (Table 2). Part 2 has a variable
number of 16-bit words and contains the radial reflectivity category data
for each scan in the form shown in Table 3.
The RADAP II archive files can be read with a FAST FORTRAN I/O (FFIO) package
subroutine called FFGET (BUF, N, L, &END, &ERR), where FFGET reads a record
from FORTRAN unit "N" into contiguous locations starting at "BUF." The length
of the record in bytes is returned in "L". At end-of-file (EOF), transfer
will be made to statement number "END" and errors to statement number "ERR".
Table 1
Nominal values of reflectivity thresholds for archived RADAP II data for base
level scans for warm and cool seasons. The actual values used for a given
archive scan are included in the header data for that scan. All tilt-sequence
scans are archived with warm season category thresholds regardless of the
season.
RADAP II CATEGORY: 1
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 18.5
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 18
RADAP II CATEGORY: 2
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 24.5
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 20
RADAP II CATEGORY: 3
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 30.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 22
RADAP II CATEGORY: 4
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 35.5
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 24
RADAP II CATEGORY: 5
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 38.5
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 26
RADAP II CATEGORY: 6
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 41.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 28
RADAP II CATEGORY: 7
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 43.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 30
RADAP II CATEGORY: 8
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 44.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 32
RADAP II CATEGORY: 9
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 46.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 34
RADAP II CATEGORY: 10
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 47.5
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 36
RADAP II CATEGORY: 11
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 49.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 38
RADAP II CATEGORY: 12
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 51.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 40
RADAP II CATEGORY: 13
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 53.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 42
RADAP II CATEGORY: 14
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 55.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 44
RADAP II CATEGORY: 15
WARM SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 57.0
COOL SEASON THRESHOLD (dBZ): 46
Table 2 HEADER INFORMATION (PART I) OF A RADAP II DATA RECORD
POSITION: 1-4
PARAMETER: ISTAT
DESCRIPTION: Station identifier. 3 characters + a blank. Two 16-bit words
(ISTAT(2)) (Left justified)
POSITION: 5-6
PARAMETER: IYR
DESCRIPTION: Last two digits of the year
POSITION: 7-8
PARAMETER: IJUL
DESCRIPTION: Julian date
POSITION: 9-10
PARAMETER: IMMDD
DESCRIPTION: Calendar date (MM=month and DD=day)
POSITION: 11-12
PARAMETER: ITIME
DESCRIPTION: Hour and minute (HHMM). GMT
POSITION: 13-14
PARAMETER: IELEV
DESCRIPTION: Elevation angle (scaled by 10). Deg
POSITION: 15-16
PARAMETER: IRINT
DESCRIPTION: Range interval (scaled by 100) n mi
POSITION: 17-18
PARAMETER: IMERGR
DESCRIPTION: Ending range for merging higher elevation data with base
elevation data. Km
POSITION: 19-20
PARAMETER: IMERGA
DESCRIPTION: Elevation angle of the higher elevation data used for merging
with base elevation data. (scaled by 10) Deg
POSITION: 21-22
PARAMETER: IALT
DESCRIPTION: Station elevation above msl. Ft
POSITION: 23-24
PARAMETER: IOBFLG
DESCRIPTION: Type of observation scan
0 = base level
1 = volumetric
POSITION: 25-26
PARAMETER: IDRFLG
DESCRIPTION: Rotational direction of antenna during data collection
0 = Clockwise
1 = Counter clockwise
POSITION: 27-28
PARAMETER: IAPFLG
DESCRIPTION: Operator indication of Anomalous Propagation (AP)
0 = None
1 = Some
POSITION: 29-30
PARAMETER: IAPFLG
DESCRIPTION: Operator indication of snow
0 = None
1 = Some
POSITION: 31-32
PARAMETER: NVAL
DESCRIPTION: Number of 16-bit words in the input record. Contains the header
information (1-34) + coded reflectivity values (35-NVAL).
POSITION: 33-34
PARAMETER: NONZIP
DESCRIPTION: Number of nonzero reflectivity values
POSITION: 35-36
PARAMETER: IMEAN
DESCRIPTION: Mean of the nonzero reflectivity values.
POSITION: 37-38
DESCRIPTION: Reserved for future use
POSITION: 39-68
PARAMETER: ITRESH
DESCRIPTION: Threshold reflectivity values. dBZ
Fifteen 16-bit words (ITRESH(15)).
Table 3 SPECIFICATION OF CODED REFLECTIVITY DATA (PART 2) OF A RADAP II DATA RECORD
ELEMENT: 1
PARAMETER: IRADAZ(1)
DESCRIPTION: Azimuth of first radial with nonzero data
ELEMENT: 2
PARAMETER: NGROUP(1)
DESCRIPTION: Number of groups (runs) at this azimuth
ELEMENT: 3
PARAMETER: NBIN (1,1)
DESCRIPTION: Number of bins (run length) in the first run
ELEMENT: 4
PARAMETER: IDVIP(1,1)
DESCRIPTION: RADAP II category value of the second run
.
.
.
ELEMENT: 1+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: NBIN(NGROUP(1),1)
DESCRIPTION: Number of bins in the last run
ELEMENT: 2+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: IDVIP(NGROUP(1),1)
DESCRIPTION: RADAP II category value of the last run
ELEMENT: 3+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: IRADAZ(2)
DESCRIPTION: Azimuth of the second nonzero azimuth
ELEMENT: 4+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: NGROUP(2)
DESCRIPTION: Number of runs at this azimuth
ELEMENT: 5+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: NBIN(1,2)
DESCRIPTION: Number of bins in the first run
ELEMENT: 6+(NGROUP(1)*2)
PARAMETER: IDVIP(1,2)
DESCRIPTION: RADAP II category value of the first run
.
.
.
ELEMENT: NVAL-1
PARAMETER: NBIN(NGROUP(n),n)
DESCRIPTION: Run length of last run of last radial
ELEMENT: NVAL
PARAMETER: IDVIP(NGROUP(n),n)
DESCRIPTION: Run value of the last run of last radial
None
National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Customer Service
Mailing and physical
151 Patton Avenue
Room 120
Asheville
North Carolina
28801-5001
USA
828-271-4800
828-271-4876
NCDC.Orders@noaa.gov
DSI-9798
Every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and
reliable within the limits of current NOAA quality control procedures. NOAA can
only certify that the data provided to its customers is an authentic copy of the
records which were accepted for inclusion in NOAA archives. NOAA cannot assume
liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as
a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA
makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution
constitute such a warranty.
20060627
20060627
National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Customer Service
Mailing and physical
151 Patton Avenue
Room 120
Asheville
North Carolina
28801-5001
USA
828-271-4800
828-271-4876
NCDC.Orders@noaa.gov
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata
FGDC-STD-012-2002